Skip to content

Record Any Attempts to Run chcon

An XCCDF Rule

Description

At a minimum, the audit system should collect any execution attempt of the chcon command for all users and root. If the auditd daemon is configured to use the augenrules program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default), add the following lines to a file with suffix .rules in the directory /etc/audit/rules.d:

-a always,exit -F path=/usr/bin/chcon -F perm=x -F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset -F key=privileged
If the auditd daemon is configured to use the auditctl utility to read audit rules during daemon startup, add the following lines to /etc/audit/audit.rules file:
-a always,exit -F path=/usr/bin/chcon -F perm=x -F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset -F key=privileged

Rationale

Misuse of privileged functions, either intentionally or unintentionally by authorized users, or by unauthorized external entities that have compromised system accounts, is a serious and ongoing concern and can have significant adverse impacts on organizations. Auditing the use of privileged functions is one way to detect such misuse and identify the risk from insider and advanced persistent threats.

Privileged programs are subject to escalation-of-privilege attacks, which attempt to subvert their normal role of providing some necessary but limited capability. As such, motivation exists to monitor these programs for unusual activity.

ID
xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_audit_rules_execution_chcon
Severity
Medium
References
Updated



Remediation - Shell Script

# Remediation is applicable only in certain platforms
if [ ! -f /.dockerenv ] && [ ! -f /run/.containerenv ] && rpm --quiet -q audit; then

ACTION_ARCH_FILTERS="-a always,exit"
OTHER_FILTERS="-F path=/usr/bin/chcon -F perm=x"
AUID_FILTERS="-F auid>=1000 -F auid!=unset"

Remediation - Ansible

- name: Gather the package facts
  package_facts:
    manager: auto
  tags:
  - NIST-800-171-3.1.7
  - NIST-800-53-AC-6(9)